The Indictment

Ambitious D.A. Neil Harrington and cop-turned-defense attorney Dan Sheridan lock horns in the case of Christopher Dillard, a prominent Boston physician accused of the murder of his ex-mistress

Reed (The Verdict; The Choice) has written a well-plotted but curiously flat novel about a possible grand jury indictment against a prominent doctor suspected of murdering a young woman. When Boston attorney Dan Sheridan agrees to defend Dr. Christopher Dillard, he pits himself against a DA with an eye on a U.S. Senate seat and a shady Irish kingmaker who wants the entire case buried. Sheridan also becomes an unwitting target of an FBI sting operation against local lawyers suspected of criminal ties, even as he becomes romantically involved with the agent who is working undercover as one of his secretaries. Matters come to a head during the grand jury hearing: because such a hearing prohibits defense witnesses, Sheridan and his client are forced to watch while a detailed case is built against them. Reed explains the quirky rules governing grand juries in an awkward prologue; elsewhere, the narrative proceeds at a brisk but metronomically even pace that fails to generate suspense and excitement. Nevertheless, Reed, himself a Boston attorney, knows his courtrooms and the city, which he engagingly presents here as a stateside suburb of Dublin in which everybody who is anybody is Irish.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Reed (The Choice, 1991, etc.) varies the David-and-Goliath scenario that's worked so well in his previous legal thrillers by making David just a little more powerful and setting him an even tougher goal. Maverick defense attorney Dan Sheridan's job is not just to get the client off, but to avoid the indictment that will destroy his livelihood and good name. Did prominent surgeon and IRA supporter Dr. Christopher Dillard kill his frequent companion, Angela Williams, and dump her body miles from her opulent apartment? The police and the DA's office (senatorial hopeful Neil Harrington and his avid top prosecutor, Mayan d'Ortega) say he did; a lie-detector test that Harrington and d'Ortega refuse to accept or duplicate says he didn't. No sooner has Sheridan, already no friend of Harrington, taken Dillard's case than the DA enlists the Feds in an attempt to link Sheridan and Dillard to Boston kingmaker Sonny Callahan in a series of indictments for conspiracy, bribery, and racketeering. An old friend in the DA's office manages to warn Sheridan that his phones are tapped, but not that his new legal secretary, Sheila O'Brien, is actually an undercover FBI agent. Watch Harrington and Co. cook up scheme after scheme to catch clean-cut Sheridan taking a bribe. Watch Sheridan and O'Brien falling for each other as she sees what he's made of. Watch d'Ortega convene a grand jury that'll rule on the merits of the prosecution's case without the benefit of any evidence or cross- examination by the defense. And watch (Reed's hallmark) the pressure mount on two lone innocents, the cop who finds out a fix is in at the DA's office and the green pathologist who slowly convinces herself that her alcoholic boss is lying about the cause of death. Although the IRA apparatus is unconvincing and the ending drags, eavesdropping on these legal eagles trying to one-up each other to death is still sinfully entertaining. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Clean-living defense attorney Dan Sheridan won't accept bribes, but he has one vice: sneaking off to the Boston suburbs to play minor league baseball one night per week. Sheila O'Brien, an FBI agent masquerading as a secretary at his office, follows him to the playing field and falls in love. Meanwhile, the feds expect her to monitor her boss's errands, phone calls, and mail for terrorist connections. In the novel's first chapters, law information is sandwiched awkwardly between sections of dialog, but the breathless plot and the likable protagonists help the reader along. Reed, a Boston attorney and author of the best-selling novels The Verdict (1980) and The Choice (LJ 7/91), has written another absorbing thriller. Recommended for most public libraries.
Joyce Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The latest from the author of The Verdict (1983) and The Choice (1991) is set up to work on three levels: as mystery, as legal drama, and as romance. When a prominent Boston surgeon is indicted in the murder of a young woman, an ambitious prosecutor out to attract publicity for his anticrime campaign is pitted against an ex-cop turned defense attorney. Reed surrounds the mystery plot with an intriguing, behind-the-scenes look at the historically fascinating sociopolitical world of Boston, and he offers plenty of detail on the decision-making, strategy, and processes that go into preparing a criminal case. The legal background is presented seamlessly, holding the reader's interest without detracting from the action. Unfortunately, the story does stall with the obligatory romantic angle, which seems forced and unnecessary to character development. Still, the novel succeeds on two of its three levels and shouldn't disappoint the growing audience for legal thrillers. Scott Wilkens